DOVER — New Durham School staff testified in Strafford County Superior Court Tuesday they took food away from the alleged victim identified in the trial of Christina Thomas because they were instructed to do so.

But many of them felt uncomfortable doing it, former New Durham School Principal Barbara Reed said.

“The (paraeducators) would take (food) away and they had a real hard time with that,” she said. “…I honestly felt his size was a result of the medical conditions, whatever they were, and we didn't know. We didn't know and we thought we were working with Christina to figure out what was going on and what would be in (the boy's) best interest.”

In the sixth day of Thomas' trial, several educators commented on their interactions with the woman who was reportedly the primary caretaker of the developmentally delayed young male victim, now 9, whose biological mother suffers from developmental disabilities, as well.

New Durham resident Thomas, 34, of 214 Birch Hill Road, has been indicted on a charge of first-degree assault of the victim, for allegedly starving him from 2006 to 2010.

The New Durham School, which the boy attended, reported after an Individual Education Program (IEP) was designed to fit the child's specific needs, Thomas directed the school and its administrators to reportedly carry out one bizarre task — take away a carrot stick from the boy's lunch every time he acted out, administrators said.

Shay Bennett, who worked with the boy as his paraeducator in 2009 when he was about 5 or 6, said carrying out that guideline in the IEP was difficult for her.

“I would take a carrot from his bag and he'd say, 'Oh, no. Don't do that. I'll be good,'” she said. “There were times that he would cry about it and after a couple of days, he resigned to understanding that's how it would be.”

Deputy Strafford County Attorney Alysia Cassotis asked Bennett in a line of questioning how that made her feel, to which she replied, “Horrible.”

Bennett also testified when assisting the boy in the bathroom one day, she noticed scabbed over marks on the back of his thighs, which investigators have alleged came from the child being struck over and over with a spatula. Witnesses previously testified they saw Thomas's mother, Peggy Starr, use the object on the child. Starr, 55, also of New Durham, is set to go to trial in April for alleged second-degree assault on the child.

A photograph of that spatula was projected onto a large screen for the jury Tuesday morning. They listened on as law enforcement agents also shed light on their investigation into allegations of the child's abuse at Thomas' home.

Sgt. Reginald Meattey of the New Durham Police Department said when he investigated reports to, and from, the state Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), he would speak with Thomas. He testified they had good rapport until over time, that relationship “dissolved” and she became “uncooperative” with authorities.

Meattey said Thomas would tell him, around 2008 and 2009, she believed those reporting to DCYF for treatment of the young boy were former roommates she kicked out of her home for drug use and for allegedly stealing her prescription pills. Meattey said Thomas believed the ex-roommates were calling the state department and making up reports of abuse as a form of retaliation.

It has come forward in the trial that Thomas lived with numerous individuals in her small home, with a second floor addition and basement, including her five children, her husband, a man identified as her boyfriend and various friends, some of whom testified they had nowhere else to go.

Sgt. Jason Lamontagne, formerly of the New Durham Police Department who now serves in Middleton, said one time he entered the home and said it was dirty and “in disarray” with several “makeshift beds” in the living room.

Thomas' defense attorney Steven Keable questioned some of the New Durham School staff who testified, entering into evidence food logs that showed the boy was being fed whole peanut butter sandwiches and cereal among other things throughout the day in his classes.

Bennett said she was supposed to take away one carrot stick every time the boy “ruminated,” or regurgitated and then swallowed his food. She said Thomas told her and staff the boy had control over the issue and if he did it, the principal told her she should be punished by having his food taken away.

The former principal, Reed, said she had a great friendship with Thomas and smiled and laughed a few times in her testimony, recalling their experiences. She said the Thomas family had an issue with getting the boy to school, though in his preschool years, his attendance was not required. But when he continued to miss several days a month in kindergarten, the school made special arrangements to help keep him there.

She added one time Thomas told her she punished the boy by making him stay home from school. “She told me one time she didn't bring him to school because he had been naughty … He loved school,” Reed said. “But (I knew) it was better to work with Christina than to be authoritative.”

The county attorney's office is set to call to the stand several more staff members of the New Durham School this week to testify. With a few scheduling conflicts ahead and a federal holiday coming up, Judge John M. Lewis told the jurors they may need to come early and stay late next week to wrap up the case, which was originally set to last three weeks. The trial will resume today.